Wednesday, September 26, 2007

When you've tried the best (call for list)

In this life, I have certain fundamental beliefs which I hold to be fundamentally true. They are:

Everyone is born equal and deserves to be treated equally.
Habitat, despite being a furniture shop, sells the best dressings gowns in the world.

Just occasionally, you come across a product offering which is so good that you'd never want to try anything else. I have two: the aforementioned dressing gowns (big fluffly clouds of towelling, just perfect for curling up with a cuppa on the sofa - wonderful) and Body Shop's Men's Shaving Cream (not so much for any skin benefits it offers, but because the razor always rinses perfectly). I firmly believe that these are the best dressing gowns and shaving creams in the world. Everything else, I could be tempted to try different suppliers - I'm not picky about what sort of bread I buy, or what brand of car I drive (I'm currently driving a bus pass). But dressing gowns and shaving cream... nah.

My question is: do you have things which you'd never, ever buy from anyone else? Products which will leave terrible holes in your life when they finally cease production? Caviar, cars, socks, hairnets, waffles, whatever...

48 comments:

Paul ◘ said...

Well, Sweet Sweat is a product for which I've never found a satisfactory replacement. I can probably add others.

King of Shaves products are exemplary, for their type.

Doctor Curry said...

Kellogg's Cornflakes. White label cornflakes just don't cut it.
And for some reason, I really don't like any toothpaste but Colgate, even though they keep changing the flavors and the consistency, and I don't always like the result.
Canon cameras, more because I'm familiar with the logic of their controls, and have a hard time switching to other makes, than because theyre better than anyone else.
Oh, and American women.

Chris G said...

have you tried using the shaving cream to clean the bath?

tea doesn't come any better than PG Tips

Doctor Curry said...

Just don't try shaving with Tilex!!

Rose ****** said...

I can't be bothered to eat any other toaster pastries than Kellogg's strawberry pop-tarts.

TARA W said...

I won't eat any other ice cream that claims to be chocolate chip cookie dough unless the ice cream brand is Ben & Jerry's.

Barry Owen said...

Heinz Tomato Ketchup.

I've had some fancy catsup varieties but this is the business.

Debbie McKee said...

Landsend.com for undies that don't shrink, knit shirts that don't fade or shrink.

and I'd have to reluctantly admit Gevalia sells the best coffee I have ever made. also the priciest.

Matt F said...

Argh! chris, darling, you're a philistine.

Ian Tindale said...

Apple computers. I doubt I could tolerate any other.

I only ever seem to like Sony Ericsson phones.

Most other things I'm really not loyal to brands, manufacturers or geographical origins of goods.

Matt F said...

Hmph. Must admit when it comes to gadgets I seem to have ended up with Sony everything, but that's not to say I wouldn't try elsewhere.

k_sra sra said...

burt's bees lip shimmer: rhubarb.

I'm beginning to strongly suspect that they put crack in it, because invariably if I pull it out in public some woman near me begins shouting, "I have the SAME stuff!" and pulls a tube out of her purse.

xandra m said...

I get my coffee from a local roaster called Prime Roast, I have to drive 25 miles into New Hampshire. I usually buy four pounds at a time to make it worth the trip; it's worth the freshest, darkest roasts' coffees I've ever had. (I have drunk Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, which is the most expensive in the world.)

Doctor Curry said...

I thought the most expensive coffee in the world was civet shit?

Chris G said...

why did you delete the reply to my PG Tips?

;)

Jonathan Phillips said...

agree with two previous correspondents : Apple computers and Heinz ketchup. To add to the must haves ...

Marmite, Schweppes Tonic, Yorkshire Tea

Tom Kimber said...

German cars - British comedy - Turkish delight - Cuban cigars - Russian vodka - American razamatazz - Sicillian bread, wine, cheese, ham - French indulgence - Belgian crépes - Czeck lager - Colombian nose candy - Austrian chocolate torte - Scotch whiskey - Chinese tea - Canadian maple syrup - Japanese animation - Jamaican ginger cake - Welsh singers and Irish Guinness. All this, and you've got a good night, anything else is just second best.

Andrew C said...

Colgate toothpaste. Kellogg's cornflakes.

john smith said...

These are mere Earthly things.

Jonathan Phillips said...

Havana Rum...

Peter S said...

No, no, no.

Mount Gay or Westerhall.
Preferably on Grand Anse beach.

Peter S said...

sp. "whisky".

Jonathan Phillips said...

Taste test needed...

Doctor Curry said...

Those aren't brands! (Apart from the Guinness.)

Peter S said...

See you in St George's

PS If you find a source of Westerhall in the UK let me know.
Mount Gay can be had from Waitrose.

Chris G said...

I thought you meant the hospital.

Peter S said...

You're just _sooo_ Tooting-centric.

Joyce Collins said...

Oooh! I use it too!

Doctor Curry said...

I thought she just meant that every time she does taste tests on rum, she ends up in the hospital.

:-)

Andrew C said...

W..Well, yes - What's wrong with that? It's the whole World on a High Street

Matt F said...

I called you a philistine, and then softened.
You're not a philistine. You've clearly had all your taste buds removed in a horrific accident, and that's not your fault.

k_sra sra said...

what's wrong with being a philistine?

Other products I swear by:

Dove hair care
Neutragena makeup
Eddy's Whole Fruit Bars
Wu's Cuisine (restaurant) Green Bean Dish (AWESOME!)
Aveda Hand Lotion
L'Occitaine Solid Perfumes
Gali's Roses

john smith said...

Yeah. PGTips suck! There are a whole Brazilian teas better than that rotgut.

k_sra sra said...

Is there any other kind of Marmite than Marmite? (And don't say "vegamite," because the two are not comparable.)

Tom Kimber said...

There is Bovril - but it's that's pretty much different again - I think Oxo tried muscling in on the whole yeast-extract spread market for a while. I also seem to remember some generic supermarket "yeast extract based spread" - but that might just have been a bad dream.

Paul ◘ said...

Can't address the shimmer, but I've found that several of burt's bees line are standouts, esp. the apricot kernel baby oil.

Paul ◘ said...

Pasión Teas are perfect, in many respects. They are exactly the kind of locally produced and custom blends that have led me, in the past, to give up a variety of other 'mass marketed' products. After all, why settle?

Jonathan Phillips said...

there are various own brand versions too .. but Marmite is the one.

john smith said...

Marmite is ghastly.

k_sra sra said...

...says the Australian. All depends on what your father and mother put on your toast as a child, I say.

john smith said...

Marmite is really unpopular here. Vegemite is King.

k_sra sra said...

Yes, I know. Hence my anno. I remember the first time I tried Vegemite. it was *so* bad simply because it was *not* Marmite. And conversely, I cannot remember the first time I tried Marmite. It's always been there.

john smith said...

There is nothing you can't do without, except food, water, oxygen and a suitable temperature range. The rest of it is just gratification in its various forms.

k_sra sra said...

So true. The US is run on gratification. Most of it instant.

Matt F said...

Yeah So?

k_sra sra said...

So nothing. There it is.

Barry Owen said...

Yeah! But Marmite ROCKS!.

in my humble opinion.

john smith said...

I think that's true of the entire human race and practically every other living thing, too.